i didnt realize that mcdermaot was a retail street in the past....were the store fronts that exist there today orginal?....i always assumed that they were retrofits of the more typical exchange district building....was it an important street in the past?

Well, if this was being written in 1904, there might still have been a lot of the older wood frame buildings around, prior to the construction of all of the warehouses and other large brick structures we see today, although some of the larger buidlings, such as the Telegram Building, had already been around for many years at that point. So perhaps it was more of a retail street then. Or else the writer simply meant a more general sort of importance, in terms of real estate values.

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one thing i have always wondered and maybe you guys have an answer....why does the building that now houses the mayberry gallery have two facades?....there used to be a building right beside that fronted main street, so why is there a detailed facade on both the street side and to the east?....now that the lot is open, it is exposed, but i wonder why it wasnt designed more typically with only a single facade....did the street pattern change?....what used to be in front of it?

As you can see below, the Dominion Bank didn't abut Lake of the Woods House. Maybe there was a laneway that serviced a delivery area at the rear of the McIntyre Block? Even then it wouldn't really have been necessary to spend so much on the second facade.

I have a photograph from sometime around 1900 or 1901 showing the Dominion Bank before either of its immediate neighbours was built (the Bank of British North America - Royal Trust - Newmac Bldg on Main and the Lake of the Woods Bldg). Between the Dominion Bank and the two-storey frame commercial building that occupied the Lake of the Woods Bldg lot there is either a tiny one-storey structure or a one-storey extension of the Dominion Bank. There doesn't appear to be a gap for a laneway or driveway. Maybe when the old frame buildings on the block were demolished in order to build the LOTW Bldg and the Criterion Hotel, some sort of access route to something was needed. Another possibility is that the company wanted more light in the building and created a small space in order to allow for windows, which the architect (John H.G. Russell) persuaded it to finish in the opulent style we now see.

Here's a picture I found from around 1909 or 1910, looking west from the top of the McIntyre block. It amazing how dramatically the skyline of this view would change by 1915--a span of only five years. I have indicated where significant buildings would go up in that time.

Most of the remants of the early era of growth in Winnipeg that are seen here would dissapear. The wood framed block on Portage Avenue (with back yards) would be replaced by the Curry building. The house on the corner of Albert and Notre Dame would be replaced by the Electric Railway Chambers. The house on the far right looks like the house from 1878 still standing--and I thought it was at first--but it is too close to Notre Dame to be it. This house looks like it would have made way for the St. Charles Hotel.

1968. Built 1899 and designed by Darling & Pearson. Not surprising, since it has a very Ontario-ish look to it, notably the (what appears to be) sandstone, which I think you see in downtown Winnipeg only on that building on Garry Street just down from the old Bank of Nova Scotia.

That was a big loss, especially for an empty lot. It was a very elegant building and something of a contrast in its Victorian heaviness to the more classical style of some of the other bank buildings.

Here is the side of the LotW building this afternoon. If there was an alley, you can see that the rear of the Newmac building (Empire) terminates it. It sure seems like quite an extra expense to put such effort into the brickwork along a short alley. Perhaps because the funny angle of the Bank of Commerce exposed so much of the east facade?

In any case, it makes it one of the finest little buildings in the Exchange District.

oh man, i wish i hadnt seen that dominion bank image...what a horrible loss...imagine tearing that down....

those house prices are awesome....look how expensive wellington is...and interesting that spence and balmoral are two of the more expensive streets...

stabling for horses on wellington....

i love this stuff...thanks for sharing it guys.

I know. The rounded corner and (apparently) sandstone facade was truely unique in Winnipeg. That block of Main between Portage and McDermot took such a beating in the last few decades--and for no good reason, either. I mean, other than the TD Centre, which took out the Child's and Nanton buildings (the latter of which my great-grandfather worked at from his arrival to Winnipeg from Glasgow in 1919 to his death in 1950), there is no excuse that anyone can use for the destruction of this row of buildings. At least the Newmac building, Winnipeg's otherMcKim, Mead, and White creation, is still standing.

As I sit here, attempting to sober up, here are a few pictures that I've found recently:

One of the more dramatic images of Bloody Saturday, 1919. Mounted police round the bend in front of the Confederation Life building. It is incredible to imagine what that day must have been like. To go back in time and stand on Main Street...

I have heard of some people who were were adults living in Winnipeg in that year, who never talked about it

Sir A.M. Nanton--the only knight that I know of that permentantly resided in Winnipeg. The gate-house of his former Roslyn Road estate is now a private residence

Here is a near-mythical view of Portage and Main c.1920s--when Winnipeg was a much, much bigger city than it is today

Looking down McDermot from the first Bank of Hamilton building. This might be a year after the first photo (probably 1902), since the Lake of the Woods building has now replaced the first wooden structure [correction: it is in the space between the white structure and the bank; the white building is still there, soon to be replaced by the Criterion Hotel (1903)]:

Another view, north on Main:

Meanwhile, up at the old CPR station on Higgins:

Broadway, showing the Broadway Court apartment block under construction where the Cambrian Credit Union now stands. I labelled this one since we don't often see this sort of angle:

What the residential area in the background looked like around 1901. This is what Dalnavert is a remnant of. Most of these houses could be in my neighbourhood in Toronto. They would have appealed to the wealthier emigrants from Ontario for that reason:

This is a family photo, showing my great grandfather and my great aunt about 1906 or 1907 at their house at 290 Wardlaw (or Wardlow, as it then was). This is part of a neighbourhood that was demolished when the Midtown Bridge was built and Donald Street extended south through Fort Rouge. The house would have been around what was once the intersection of Wardlaw and Clarke, backing onto the CNR mainline by the river:

This is a family photo, showing my great grandfather and my great aunt about 1906 or 1907 at their house at 290 Wardlaw (or Wardlow, as it then was). This is part of a neighbourhood that was demolished when the Midtown Bridge was built and Donald Street extended south through Fort Rouge. The house would have been around what was once the intersection of Wardlaw and Clarke, backing onto the CNR mainline by the river:

interesting andy the front of my house probly looked simlar back then... as it did have one of thoughs arbors sticking out of it.. but i think mine was 2 stories no clue what posed them to rip it off lol only know it was there cause of a weird shaped closit in the basement thats full of antique computers...

Buildings from the Birds Eye View of the Central Business Portion of Winnipeg, Manitoba (1894) Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the Department of Agriculture, in the Year 1884, by Clarence E. Steele, Winnipeg.
This image is a mosaic of the building images included on the edges of the Birds Eye View of the Central Business Portion of Winnipeg. In order to maintain a higher resolution it was scanned from an image that was an enlargement of a microfilmed copy.
This photo has notes. Move your mouse over the linkl to see them. http://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2198447149/